Dr. Heather Burrell Ward attended Duke University School of Medicine, where she was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. She completed psychiatry residency training at Brigham & Women’s Hospital - Harvard Medical School in the Research Track. Dr. Ward completed fellowship training in Behavioral Neurology and neuromodulation at the Berenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School. At Vanderbilt, Dr. Ward is Director of Neuromodulation Research, where she oversees and facilitates research using a variety of neuromodulation interventions (rTMS, ECT, DBS).

Dr. Ward is Director of the Research Track in the Vanderbilt Psychiatry Residency Program. Dr. Ward was previously Associate Director of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center - Harvard Psychiatry Residency Research Track. Dr. Ward graduated from the Research Track of the Brigham & Women’s Hospital - Harvard Medical School Psychiatry Residency Program, where she served as Chief Resident for Research, a position she pioneered to promote scholarly activity across the residency. She is passionate about physician-scientist training in residency, increasing diversity of the physician-scientist workforce, and physician leadership development.

Clinical:

Dr. Ward is a board-certified psychiatrist specializing in psychotic disorders, substance use disorders, and interventional psychiatry, including repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), and psychotic disorders.

Research:

Dr. Ward uses neuromodulation (rTMS) and neuroimaging to understand and treat the brain-circuit basis of psychotic disorders. Dr. Ward has studied nicotine dependence in schizophrenia for the past decade. She was awarded the Sidney R. Baer, Jr. Fellowship, Norman E. Zinberg Fellowship, and Livingston Fellowship for training in neuroimaging and neuromodulation research. In a NIDA-funded K23 Career Development Award, Dr. Ward is using individualized, network-targeted TMS interventions for nicotine dependence in schizophrenia. She is interested in developing TMS interventions for substance use, cognitive impairment, and clinical symptoms in psychotic disorders.

Dr. Ward was named a 2021 STAT News Wunderkind, which recognizes top young investigators in North America. She has received Early Career Investigator Awards from the Schizophrenia International Research Society, College on Problems of Drug Dependence, and American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry. She received the Solomon and Mysell Awards from Harvard Medical School for her research and was selected to attend the APA Research Colloquium for Junior Investigators. She was also awarded a Loan Repayment Program Award from the National Institutes of Drug Abuse. She was an APA Leadership Fellow and has served on the APA Council for Research, Council on Addiction Psychiatry, and Biomarkers and Tobacco Work Groups.